Waikato Regional Council has agreed to be a participating council in the co-design of a new model for the delivery of water services.

At Thursday’s full council meeting, an update on Waikato Water Done Well was given by the project’s team members, who also put it to the councillors that the regional council has the gravitas and expertise to help ensure a successful outcome for the health and wellbeing of its communities.

Council Chair Pamela Storey says the decision was made after the council heard some rationale from the project team as to why it might want to get involved.

“The project team gave us some pretty compelling reasons as to why we should get involved at this stage, even though three waters are services provided by city and district councils,” says Chair Storey.

“As the regulator of the provision of water services, we can make a really good contribution in what needs to be done, for example, we’re able to provide technical leadership around a catchment-based approach to consenting.

“There is opportunity in shared services, so we have quite a lot of technology that may be quite useful in the co-design of an outcome for the Waikato region.

“And we have assets that may merit being part of regional capital works programme in the future, so it makes sense to be able to contribute to what the structure and governance will look like.”

Councils have until mid-September to confirm their involvement. Participating in this first stage of the process is non-binding.

The presentation of Waikato Water Done Well at the council meeting can be viewed at waikatoregion.govt.nz/council-meetings/council.

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